Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T04:24:27.049Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Informal Kinship Care of Orphans in Rural China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2010

Xiaoyuan Shang ,
Morris Saldov  and
Karen R. Fisher
Xiaoyuan Shang
Affiliation:
Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia E-mail: [email protected]
Morris Saldov
Affiliation:
Monmouth University, New Jersey
Karen R. Fisher
Affiliation:
Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examines kinship care of orphans throughout China. It finds that in addition to children becoming orphaned if both parents die, some children are treated as orphans when their father dies and rural traditional kinship care obligations restrict the viability of widowed mothers continuing to care for their child. When mothers are forced for socioeconomic reasons to leave the paternal extended family, children effectively become orphans, dependent on ageing grandparents. Girls and disabled children are most at risk. Implementing financial and other support to orphans, widowed mothers and kinship carers could improve the sustainability of these family relationships.

Type
Themed Section on Moving towards Human Rights Based Social Policies in China
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 103 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brown-Lyons, M. and Robertson, A. (2001), Kith and Kin – Informal Child Care: Highlights From Recent Research, New York: National Center for Children in Poverty.Google Scholar
Bureau of Development and Planning, China Population Planning Committee (2007), A Report of Population and Birth Planning – Data from 2006 National Population and Birth Planning Sampling Survey, http://www.cpirc.org.cn/tjsj/tjsj_gb_detail.asp?id=9447 (19 January 2008) (Chinese).Google Scholar
Farmer, E. and Moyers, S. (2008), Kinship Care: Fostering Effective Family and Friends Placement, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.Google Scholar
Johnson, K., Huang, B. and Wang, L. (1998), ‘Infant abandonment and adoption in China’, Population and Development Review, 24, 3, 469–510.Google Scholar
Liu, M. and Zhu, K. (2009), ‘Orphan care in China’, Social Work and Society, 7, 1, 43–57.Google Scholar
Mendes, E. and Srighanthan, S. (2009), Confronting Discrimination and Inequality in China: Chinese and Canadian Perspective, Ontario: University of Ottawa Press.Google Scholar
National People's Congress, People's Republic of China (2005), The Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China (amended), http://www.gov.cn/banshi/2005-08/21/content_25037.htm (26 June 2008) (Chinese).Google Scholar
Panter-Brick, C. and Smith, M. (2000), Abandoned Children – Western Assumptions About Childhood, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Saunders, P., Shang, X. and Li, Z. (2007), ‘Using budget standards to estimate the costs of children: the case of Funan county’, Journal of Family Studies, 13, 1, 57–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shang, X. (2002), ‘Looking for a better way to care for children: cooperation between the state and civil society in China’, Social Service Review, 76, 2, 203–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shang, X. (2008a), ‘The role of extended families in childcare and protection: the case of rural China’, International Journal of Social Welfare, 17, 3, 204–15.Google Scholar
Shang, X. (2008b), The System of Social Protection for Vulnerable Children in China, Beijing: China Social Sciences Academic Press (Chinese).Google Scholar
Shang, X. (2008c), A Study of the Condition of Orphans in China, Beijng: China Social Sciences Academic Press (Chinese).Google Scholar
Shang, X., Wu, X. and Wu, Y. (2005), ‘Welfare provision to vulnerable children: the missing role of the state’, The China Quarterly, 181, 2, 122–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
State Council (2005), The Constitution of the People's Republic of China, http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2004-03/15/content_1367387_2.htm (12 August 2009) (Chinese).Google Scholar
State Council (2005), The Regulations for the Provision of Rural Five-Guarantees, http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2006-01/26/content_172438.htm (26 June 2008) (Chinese).Google Scholar
UNICEF (1989), ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’, United Nations Treaty Collection, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm (14 October 2008).Google Scholar
United Nations General Assembly (2009), Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, Geneva: Human Rights Council.Google Scholar
Yan, Y. (2005), Private Life under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949–1999, California: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Ye, J. and He, C. (2008), Lonely Sunsets: The Elderly Left Behind in Rural China, Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press (Chinese).Google Scholar
Zhang, W. (2006), ‘Who adopts girls and why? Domestic adoption of female children in contemporary rural China’, China Journal, 56, 7, 63–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar